Coronavirus Disease (COVID 19)
- March 15, 2020
The Coronavirus disease has spread to 157 countries on all but one continent of the world. 167,571 cases have been confirmed and more than 6,456 people have died from the virus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has the following objectives for its response. They are to:
- Interrupt human-to-human transmission including reducing secondary infections among close contacts and health care workers, preventing transmission amplification events, and preventing further international spread.
- Identify, isolate and care for patients early, including providing optimized care for infected patients.
- Identify and reduce transmission from the animal source.
- Address crucial unknowns regarding clinical severity, extent of transmission and infection, treatment options, and accelerate the development of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
- Communicate critical risk and event information to all communities and counter misinformation.
- Minimize social and economic impact through multisectoral partnerships.
BPESA and its members have a clear role to play in curbing and ultimately recovering from this virus. While its incumbent on every member company to plan and responsibly implement its own actions to prevent, detect, contain and recover BPESA suggests that member companies:
- Take guidance from relevant authorities on the subject, in this case the WHO and the South African Department of Health.
- Share best practices with each other.
- Act as proactively as possible to minimise the risks and potential impact on employees and businesses in the sector.
- To prioritise this pandemic at all levels of the business.
To assist BPESA members and stakeholders, with their risk assessments and planning, BPESA has shared a risk framework developed by its partners and contact details for useful information sources.
The leadership of BPESA, will remain highly focussed on the management of our sector response to ensure that we tackle this global challenge responsibility, proactively, and in a way that minimises its negative impact on our members and broader stakeholder group.
Click here to read STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA ON MEASURES TO COMBAT COVID-19 EPIDEMIC
